The structure and perceived benefits of the cooperative education programs offered by two-year colleges in Cincinnati, Ohio, were examined in a study in which 66 representatives of 54 area firms and 25 individuals from 7 community colleges were interviewed in 1993. Cincinnati's co-op programs were found to vary significantly in their structure. Some programs alternated 10-week periods of schooling with similar periods of work, whereas others offered schooling in the morning followed by work in the afternoon. In some colleges, administration of co-op programs was decentralized. Although the benefits of co-op programs could not be quantified, the educators and employers interviewed were virtually unanimous in their support for co-op education's benefits for students, employers, and relationships between colleges and employers. Despite the nearly unanimous support, several problems with the program were identified: problems in recruiting enough co-op placements and the substantial differences between the training opportunities offered at firms where employers viewed co-op as a way of "growing their own employees" and those at firms where employers used co-op primarily as a source of short-term, well-trained labor and kept students in a single position. (Thirty-three references are listed. Appended are the employer and education provider interview guides.) (MN)